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Toronto Hydro 2014 CR Report_FINAL

TORONTO HYDRO 2014 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 59
INTRODUCTION MATERIALITY
AND STAKEHOLDER
ENGAGEMENT
OUR
WORKFORCE
SUSTAINABLE
BUSINESS AND
OPERATIONS
OUR
ENVIRONMENTAL
FOOTPRINT
SUPPORTING
OUR COMMUNITY
GOVERNANCE
AND ETHICS
Climate change adaptation
We’re collaborating with a number of stakeholders and leading important
initiatives to study the effects of climate change and help improve our
system’s resiliency to severe weather. We’re also working to formalize our
climate change adaptation action plan.
Public Infrastructure
Engineering Vulnerability
Committee (PIEVC)
Assessing our system for
vulnerabilities to extreme weather
In 2014, we conducted a vulnerability
assessment study as part of the pilot phase
of our PIEVC protocol project. The objective
of the project was to evaluate the vulnerability
of key components of our distribution
infrastructure against current climate trends.
We focused our attention on the most
common infrastructure configurations in our
grid, and analyzed equipment standards
against current climate factors such as
extreme temperatures and flooding. The study
concluded that overhead infrastructure is more
vulnerable to climate events than underground
infrastructure, although underground
equipment is not entirely sheltered from
extreme weather.
Following the case study, we launched phase
two of the PIEVC protocol project with
Engineers Canada, AECOM and Risk
Sciences Canada to evaluate our distribution
system against future climate trends. Through
this project, we developed a risk assessment
matrix for our infrastructure, and are in the
process of mapping out areas of our
distribution system that are expected to be
impacted by future climate change. This
information will be used to inform further
research on climate adaptation and will
help identify pilot projects.
Resilient City Project
Collaborating with the City of
Toronto on climate change
The Resilient City Project is aimed at
improving coordination with the City
of Toronto to mitigate the impacts of
widespread outages. We’re working
with the City to identify areas of our
grid that are vulnerable to extreme
weather events and improving our
information-sharing processes to better
prepare for events that could negatively
impact the operation of the City.
We have identified hospitals, public
infrastructure providers and customers
who depend on electrically powered life
support equipment as key areas of
planning. Knowledge gained from the
PIEVC is being incorporated into this
initiative to shape action plans.
Participating in
industry discussions
In 2014, the CEA led industry discussions
about the awareness of climate change
impacts in the electricity generation and
transmission sectors. Toronto Hydro
participated in these roundtable discussions
aimed to help educate members and gain
consensus on common climate change
issues and possible adaptation measures.